What unusual wines/regions do you love?

I’m not a complete neophyte with wine, and I like to think I drink broadly and include some unusual wines (Musar, plenty of Vouvray/Chenin), but the more I learn the more I realize how limited my tasting has been.

Specifically, I only recently tried my first vin jaune, and my first trousseau noir. I just started listening to Levi Dalton’s I’ll Drink to That, and a recent episode was on Aligote, which I just bought and tried my first bottle of. I’ve never had a Sagrantino (eg. Paolo Bea). I only recently discovered that Petillant Natural was a separate category of sparkling wine.

I’m looking to expand my viewpoint. Outside of the typical Burgundy/Barolo/Bordeaux/Cali Cab regions, what unusual regions or producers do you love, and do you think they are top tier, world-class wines at the level of grand cru burgundy/1st growth bordeaux, or just excellent everyday wines for the price that you enjoy?

(Please include producers that you enjoy as well as regions! So that I can search for them in my explorations…)

Chateau Simone Palette Blanc – weird, funky, super complex, very high quality in my opinion

Santorini Assyrtiko. But maybe that’s mainstream now. Sigalas particularly good and fairly available. Try ageing a bit!
From your intro I’m guessing you are probably already into non-Rioja Spanish wines.

I love Lopez de Heredia whites and reds, but I haven’t had a lot of non-Rioja Spanish wines. Any recommendations for producers?

not sure it’s unusual enough. I’ll nominate dry VORS sherry. Can be mind-bending. For example, Hidalgo’s VORS “Wellington” Palo Cortado is absolutely GC/1st Growth quality.

Ooh… I have seen these and had no idea what to think about them. I’ll find one. What about the Chateau Simone reds and roses?

Hi Ashish
Such a wide ranging question, with thousands of different answers possible.

I’ll diverge slightly from the remit to give my thoughts:

  1. Piggy-back on those that have been actively tasting anything unusual they can get their hands on. People like Tom/Hill/Of/This/Shire and David Crossley’s ‘wide world of wine’, the latter with a natural wine leaning, but far from a zealot, having cut his teeth on the classics.

  2. Likewise, find what wine shops actively specialise away from the mainstream. Oddly that’s quite strong locally to me, with local merchant with an unusually broad range, another about 30 mins away which is less broad, but arguably more eclectic. Finally another local shop (a fine coffee shop) who also carries a small but very eclectic and natural wine leaning range. On my last visit I walked away with a Chilean Pais from extremely old vines (200yo I think) made by a part time teacher moving into wine making. They’ve always got something unusual open to taste, plus there is real joy in what they do.

  3. Some books really lend themselves to this exploration, and it’s readily apparent that Ian d’Agata’s Native wine grapes of Italy tome has encouraged me to try some wines/grapes I’d never heard of before, or remind me to return to wines I’ve enjoyed before but aren’t seen around much. For me it’s his writing style, where his genuine enthusiasm is apparent and can rub off on the reader.

  4. Resist the temptation to constantly return to old favourite wines, regions, grapes, just because they are safe ground and you see them at a good price. Expertise can rather narrow our horizons. It can be very useful to have a broad target of where you want the cellar to be e.g. 50% known favourites, 30% variations on that theme, exploring around the fringes of the safe ground, 20% areas of exploration which might include expanding on a little prior experience all the way to something completely unusual. With this broad target in mind, remind yourself of it when thinking about buying wine. Are you sticking to the plan, falling back on the safe bets, or getting too carried away and avoiding buying wines that you know you love, but are now dwindling in the cellar.

  5. Personally I’ve always found it easier to tackle a country or region at a time, starting with Australia and NZ wines (when the exchange rate made them a bargain), then moving into Italy (which is a never-ending journey of exploration), then more recently Portugal. Odd little pockets may get explored along the way, and there is room for other sampling bottles to see if the wine offers a spark of interest. Other people are perfectly happy just tasting randomly from anywhere and everywhere.

Having said all that, you did ask for suggestions, so I’ll try and offer some
Pinot Noir / Nebbiolo - Try fumin from Valle d’Aosta. It’s closely related to Nebbiolo but has a hint of Pinot Noir about it as well.
Bordeaux So many Bdx copies the world over, but it can be interesting to explore the minor Bdx varieties e.g. Malbec, Carmerere, Petit Verdot. Languedoc has plenty of wines I’ve not enjoyed, but there are some great wines and great value. Madiran and Cahors offer some similarities with Bdx, but often on a very bonier frame (that I do like).
Cali Cab I’m not the person to offer thoughts here, but others will be able to

In Portugal, I rather enjoy Beiras, Dao etc. towards the north, but you may prefer what is a surprisingly broad range of wines coming out of the Douro, belying its uniformly hot climate image.

Regards
Ian

One region in Italy where I have only had a few wines but have liked what I have tried is Taurasi. Rich wines, but with a bit of an earthy flavor and a lot of character.

+1. As far as big wines go, these are excellent.

p.s. one additional thought. The above named Mr Crossley started a regular tasting group called ‘Oddities’. the scope was intentionally vague, such that if you wanted to bring a wine from a well known region, but was unusual in some way, then that was fine. On the whole though, the wines were an incredibly eclectic bunch. The wines were all tasted blind, and on the occasion I joined them, I was 100% correct on the right planet the wine came from, but approximately (well exactly) 0% on country and grape. It took me back to those days when I knew little about wine, and gave me a good reminder that outside of my comfort zones, I’m not so far from those days!

So why not see if there are like-minded souls locally, and arrange such a tasting, with everyone bringing something unusual. It should make for a very convivial evening.

Mencia from Ribiera Sacra & Valdeorros in Spain

Nice. Just dipped my toes into Taurasi a few weeks ago. More excited to try them now.

Just drank a 2008 château pauque fossiles (100% pinot blanc) from Luxembourg. Very complex wine and although known a bit as a cult wine in wine circles in luxembourg and surrounding countries, this would definitely qualify as unusual wine from an unusual region.

While far from unusual, I feel like Priorat just doesn’t get the love that it should. Yes, these are big wines, but they have acidity and tannins with a lot of rich, balanced fruit. Terroir Al Limit, Vall Llach, and Clos Mogador are my favorites on the higher end, while Scala Dei makes a really killer one for around $25 normally.

I’m also a fan of Sagrantino. I honestly don’t know if the tannins will ever resolve, but, sometimes I just need a giant punch in the face. But, the grape can really bring about some haunting characteristics as it ages where I get some more potpourri and the violet notes become more pronounced.

I don’t know, I feel everything is pretty mainstream these days since Internet media dissect things to death and it is hard to be undiscovered for more than several months. Like the Good Book says: there is nothing new under the sun. Just because it is new to you, doesn’t mean it hasn’t been around. Consider: mencia from Ribera Sacra. This was a region which began being planted by the Romans I believe, some what…1800 years ago? How is that “new” by any definition? Same with Priorat, planted in the 19th century and then found again in the 1980’s.
Even New World areas have been around for a few hundred years now. There are just new characters with a wider selection of vines planting the same areas where the missions once made sacramental wines. Wine seeking will always lead you to places you haven’t been, but always were, in a way like a kaleidoscopic time machine. Fascinating journey.

Here are just a few of the more eclectic wines I’ve enjoyed in recent years:

La Grange aux Belles Brise d’Aunis - A blend of Gamay and Pineau d’Aunis showing a lot of the celery seed character of Pineau d’Aunis

2013 Vinos La Zorra Sierra de Salamanca La Zorra - A delicious blend of Rufete and Tempranillo, Lots of pure purple fruit, some spice, and a little acidic zing, it is lively and fun and very good both as a quaffer and with food, it should satisfy both wine geeks and the non-obsessed alike, and the whimsical label is a perfect match for the whimsical wine in the bottle.

2013 Comando G La Bruja de Rozas - Tasty Garnacha.

Belluard - I really like the Gringet (still and sparkling) and Altesse, not cheap but excellent wines.

Forlorn Hope - Matt Rorick is making a lot of interesting wines. I love the Verdelho Que Saudade and Alvarelhão Suspiro Del Moro Silvaspoons Vineyard in particular.

Luis A. Rodriguez Vazquez Ribeiro Viña de Martin A Teixa - Treixadura (mostly), Godello, and Albariño.

Browsing the Chambers St website is a good place to get an idea of some of the interesting wines that are out there.

YES. Really great with seafood.

There are plenty of great wine shops in SF and across the bay. We try all sorts of uncommon stuff, some bought at the recommendation of passionate staff at these places. There are so many fun, wonderful and novel wines available these days, especially from Italy. Top wine shop to visit should be Biondivino. We had an amazing Nero di Troia today, which I believe was a rec from SF Wine Trading Co. K&L has a lot of great such selections in the mix.

This Ruche is really good: 2016 Tenuta Montemagno Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato - SKU 1320275

K&L and a couple east bay shops carry Algueira wines, a wonderful producer from Ribeira Sacra. Try the Brancellao. K&L Wine Merchants - Search Results If you can find it, their Merenzao is equally fantastic. That’s the local name for Trousseau, and it’s the best I’ve had.

Try the Heitz Grignolino. I haven’t had the '15 yet, but the '14 blew the minds of everyone I poured it for: 2015 Heitz Cellar Napa Valley Grignolino - SKU 1345985

Another CA producer I highly recommend is Idlewild who special in Piemonte grapes. Maybe start with the Arneis. K&L Wine Merchants - Search Results

Keep an eye out for Lacrima di Morro d’Alba.

I guess my taste is pretty eclectic because approximately 95% of the wines mentioned here are mainstream to me. :smiley:

I guess they might be unusual to people who drink only Cali Cabs, Bordeaux and Burgundy, but they are far from the dark side of the wine world.

Georgia (Republic of) is the area I am exploring most right now. One of the many things I like about the country is how wine drinking and making is so ingrained in their culture - along with hospitality, eating well, snging and dancing. So what seems exotic to us is normal and mainstream, including making wine in buried clay jars and hundreds of indigenous varieties.